Cross-Company Energy Flexibility Potential and Prospects for Energy Flexibility in German Industry

In the wake of the energy transition, German industry faces the challenge of maintaining its competitiveness in an increasingly volatile energy system. The growing share of renewable energy is leading to greater fluctuations in the electricity markets and making it more difficult to predict energy costs.

Industrial energy flexibility can play an important role in this regard: Companies can tailor their electricity consumption to the current situation in the energy system, thereby supporting both grid stability and the integration of renewable energy. Technical solutions for this are already widely available. Nevertheless, their potential has so far been only partially realized—primarily due to regulatory hurdles and a lack of economic incentives.

Against this backdrop, the Copernicus SynErgie project used annual company surveys to examine which opportunities for flexibility are already being utilized today and what prospects exist for the future.

The results already show potential for flexibility on the gigawatt scale. With a response time of five minutes, industrial companies can reduce their load by up to 4.6 gigawatts or increase it by up to 4.0 gigawatts. The amount of energy that can be flexibly adjusted annually amounts to up to 4.8 terawatt-hours on the reduction side and 3.3 terawatt-hours on the increase side.

In practice, these opportunities arise, for example, through the time-shifting of energy-intensive processes, the flexible control of process heat and steam systems, or the use of cold and heat storage systems. Energy flexibility does not mean halting production, but rather the intelligent and system-oriented adaptation of industrial processes.

In addition, the study identifies opportunities that can be tapped in the future through investments and technological advancements. So-called bivalent technologies play a central role in this regard, as they enable switching between different energy sources and provide additional flexibility over longer periods of time. Taking these factors into account, the flexible capacity increases to up to 14.2 gigawatts of load reduction or 13.8 gigawatts of load increase.